India for changes in border accord

India has proposed changes to a new border defence cooperation pact drafted by Beijing and stressed both countries needed to “analyse” and “take lessons” from the recent stand-off over the incursion in Ladakh.

Just back from a “fruitful” Beijing visit to prepare for the Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to India, external affairs minister Salman Khurshid said he had raised the incursion but the objective wasn’t to conduct a “post- mortem or apportion blame”.

Besides, he said, both countries believe that our vision and commitment is to larger picture of China and India and both are equally determined that such incidents not obstruct forward movement.

The India visit – that will take the Chinese Premier to Delhi and Mumbai later this month – is Keqiang’s first foreign visit after assuming charge.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will make a return visit later this year, making it the first time since 1954 that leaders of the two countries visit each other’s country in the same year.

“India and China underlined things like recent incursion should not happen and agreed that this issue should not come in way of improving ties,” he said, adding that Indian suggestions for changes to a border cooperation pact drafted by them had been handed over to Beijing.

Khurshid said this was the first time that India had stressed on the need to analyse incidents.

“We should also take lessons to ensure that such things do not happen,” he said, stressing that if they did still happen, they should be addressed with greater urgency.

The Ladakh incursion took the two countries three weeks to resolve. But he stressed that the recent incursion indeed was a localised matter, “in concept and physical attributes”.